Valentine's Day is a whole different monster here. On Valentine's Day girls give chocolate to boys, not the other way around. Some of it is giri choco, or "obligation chocolate", which they are pretty much required to give to co-workers and bosses and things. These chocolates are smaller and store bought. The chocolate that every guy hopes to get is handmade treats, which are reserved for the very special people on a girls gift giving list. In middle and high school Valentine's Day is a big thing--there are lots of "confessions" of love, and lots of talk over who gave what huge handmade treat to whom.

The guys don't get off scot free, though. One month later, on March 14th, the guys who got chocolate are supossed to return the favor. It's called White Day. In reality, not all guys return the presents though, so girls kinda get the short end of the stick.

I decided that if I'm living in Japan, I'm going to go all out with the chocolates. ^_^ These are the packages I made up for my male friends (teachers get them, too). The chocolate hearts I made by melting white chocolate, putting it in a little milk chocolate cup thingie, and drizzling milk chocolate on top, adding the star. The koalas are treats that have chocolate inside, and M&Ms are sprinkled around. My host mom had the great idea to cut cute shapes out of dried mango and put that in, too. All of this is resting on paper easter grass in a muffin cup, with a heart cut out of origami paper standing up in back. I'm really proud of the result, and the guys seemed to like it, too. ^_^

Oh, my return rate on white day? A touch over 50%. Not so bad.

On a certain day each month a shrine in Kyoto has a flea market. Japanese flea markets rock. ^_^ There are all kinds of booths with food, pottery, antiques, and more. I got a kimono here for less than $20! These are one of the few places you can barter for a lower price. There's even a word in Osaka dialect that you use to do so: makete (make it lower).

I'm gonna go make dinner now, so here's a parting shot:

You know, just in case your camera/clock/walkman runs out of juice at three am. -_^